I owe my own website layout to Frank and Mary Hoffman of the Hoffman
Foundation, who are our host providers. Like us, they too are not so
young, yet their self effacing work in getting the Animal Cause across -
not only to America but, indeed, to the whole world! Such dedication
makes ones own efforts to almost shrink in to oblivion! Indeed,
part of a sermon recently given by this ‘Man of God’ is beside me and
seems most relevant. Here it is:
There is a passage near the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s
famous poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, that’s an excellent
summary to answering the question of why we have so many problems in
the world today. "He prayeth well, who loveth well; both man and
bird and beast. Yes:
He prayeth best, who loveth best; all things both great and
small;
For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all."
The story of this poem is about a mariner who shoots and kills an
albatross who would return to the ship every evening in time for
evening prayers. The crew, who curiously considered the albatross to
be a Christian sign, stood by, without any objection, and watched
the mariner kill the innocent bird. Because of their complacency in
the killing, the crew eventually dies of thirst upon the placid sea
and only the mariner lives on to tell the tale. Eventually, the
mariner repents of his actions and begins to love and respect the
whole of God’s creation, beginning with a sea snake whom he
previously loathed.
When human beings kill another living being, or are complacent in
the killing, such as when we eat or wear animal products, we have to
harden our hearts and souls to not have empathy for those animals
and their desire to live free of pain and suffering. It is this
hardness of heart that separates us from God, and makes it harder
for us to pray in the will of God, for we pray best when we love
best. Putting limits on our love also puts limits on our prayers and
communion with God. Note what we are told in Proverbs 12:10 A
righteous man has regard for the life of his
beast, But the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
When we limit the sphere of unconditional love and compassion in
any area of our lives to exclude anyone and anything, we can no
longer fully love or have compassion. Thus, even what that person
may consider to be compassionate may actually be considered to be
cruel in the eyes of God. This is also the main reason that we
believe that God created this world to be a place where all living
beings would only eat plant foods, for such food would never lead to
the hardening of our hearts. Note what we are told in Genesis
1:29-31…
Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding
seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which
has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every
beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing
that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green
plant for food "; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made,
and behold, it was very good.’
Children seem to have been born with a desire to love and touch
animals, which will guide their lives until they are taught to fear
or exploit them. It’s like Harvey Diamond said, “You put a baby in a
crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays
with the apple, I’ll buy you a new car.” Children are not born to be
cruel and indifferent to animals and their suffering. It is taught
and learned from the people around them, as is which animal to treat
lovingly as a companion, and which animal he or she can eat.
These acts are leading our children astray and making our
society harder and harder of heart. Thus, Jesus tells us in Mark
9:42 "And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to
stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung
around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.” Isn’t this
similar to what happened to Israel when they were led into captivity
in Assyria, and to Judah when they were led into captivity in
Babylon? The harder their hearts became, the further they moved away
from God, and their prayers became worthless.
PS: All readers who have internet access will benefit immensely by
looking up All-Creatures.org -
http://www.all-creatures.org. Yes, ‘thank God a million!’ for the
dedication of Rev, Frank & Mary Hoffman!
Animal Padre's
